Strays is a raunchy, R-rated blast with some legit belly laughs. Yet, underneath it all it’s a pretty innocent story of some very good dogs.
PLOT: A neglected dog named Reggie (Will Ferrell) is befriended by a street-smart pup, Bug (Jamie Foxx), who teaches him how to be a stray. When Reggie realizes how cruel his former owner (Will Forte) was, he sets off on a cross-country journey to get even the only way he knows how – bite his old owner’s d*ck off.
REVIEW: While watching Strays, I was trying to remember the last time I had laughed so consistently at a movie. With the genre all but dead on the big screen, it’s a treat to see a legitimately funny flick come along, and, indeed, this comes from the director of the last movie that actually made me laugh really hard – Josh Greenbaum of Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.
Strays is unapologetically R-rated, with it being full of dog humping, dick-biting, golden showers and f-bombs. Still, the fact that all of that is being done by a foursome of adorable dogs makes the whole thing pretty innocent. As raunchy as it is, there’s something almost pure about it as it has a wholesome message – be good to dogs because all they really want to do is make us happy.
If you’ve ever had a dog, you’ll get more than a chuckle at how some of their behaviour is mocked here, such as their need to turn around a few times before sitting down, their dislike of postmen, and loud noises. It’s a throwback to a time when R-rated, gross-out comedies used to be a regular thing and not a rarity. In fact, I doubt we’d see a raunchy movie like this get a theatrical release were it not for the hook that instead of people, we’re watching a bunch of adorable dogs.
When I was a kid, I remember watching a talking dog show called Dog House, where they made the dog talk by looping the same shots of him moving his mouth around with an actor dubbed over him. In this one, they’ve used CGI to make the (real) dogs’ mouths move, which looks pretty convincing. The voice cast is excellent, with Will Ferrell sunny and optimistic as our hero, Reggie, who, despite everything, still wants his bad owner to somehow love him and tell him he’s a good boy. Jamie Foxx is even funnier as his dog pal, Bug, although his origin story (accidentally biting a kid) was done in two other recent dog movies, Isle of Dogs and DC League of Super Pets.
Isla Fisher and Randal Park round out the foursome of dogs. Fisher gets to use her native Australian accent as she’s voicing an Australian Shepherd named Maggie, while Park plays a former police dog turned therapy dog who wears a “cone of shame” and is particularly well endowed.
There are some hilarious moments in this, such as a great bit where they all get high on wild mushrooms. There’s also a couple of great digs at other talking dog movies, such as A Dog’s Purpose, with the two stars, Josh Gad and Dennis Quaid, contributing knowing cameos. Will Forte also seems to be having a great time chewing scenery as Reggie’s terrible owner, who’s such a jerk that – yes – you’ll want to see him get his d*ck bitten off – with their climactic confrontation hilariously scored by Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball.”
All in all, I had a grand ol’ time with Strays. Does it reinvent the wheel? No, and it’s probably not as dementedly inspired as Greenbaum’s Barb and Star, but I laughed a lot. That is pretty rare these days because I honestly can’t remember the last time I laughed as much at a movie.
7
